NAACP wants civilian review in Rockford shooting

October 03, 2009

The NAACP's president is urging the northern Illinois city of Rockford to establish a civilian review board and offer grief counseling after police fatally shot an unarmed man inside a church-run daycare full of children.

Weeks after 23-year-old Mark Anthony Barmore was killed, the nation's largest civil rights organization and local religious leaders are pressing for a thorough and credible investigation into the case that has sparked tension and racial unrest in the community of nearly 160,000.

NAACP president and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous returned to Rockford today for his second rally in the city about 90 miles northwest of Chicago.

"This has to be addressed in a way that is thorough, definitive and fair," Jealous told The Associated Press before the event. "We must remain vigilant."

On Aug. 24, the unarmed Barmore, who was black, was killed by two white police officers inside a daycare at Kingdom Authority International Ministries Church. Authorities say there was struggle over a police gun, leading officers to use deadly force. But witnesses, including children, say Barmore surrendered.

Since Barmore's death, thousands have attended rallies and U.S. Department of Justice mediators have been sent to ease unrest. Some residents have called for justice with the police department. Others have spoken out in support of the two officers, who have been placed on paid administrative leave.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson has used the death as a call for economic betterment in the struggling manufacturing community, which has consistently posted the state's highest unemployment rate.

Both Illinois State Police and the Winnebago County State's Attorney's office have launched an investigation. The Justice Department has recently said it will look at the results.

The Rockford City Council has approved an outside group, Independent Assessment and Monitoring of Oakland, Calif., to review the case, including whether the Rockford police officers followed department policy when they acted.

"The administrative review will be independent of the ongoing investigation of the incident being conducted by the Illinois State Police and the Winnebago County State's Attorney's office," the city said in a statement.

Julia Scott-Valdez, an assistant city administrator and police spokeswoman, declined to comment further on the case and Saturday's rally.

The NAACP says it also wants the city to provide grief counseling for children who were inside House of Grace Daycare and Preschool during the shooting. Witnesses, including the Rev. Melvin Brown's 17-year-old daughter, say a handful of young children saw the fatal shooting.

Barmore, who suffered a gunshot wound to the neck and several to the back, died on the floor of a basement playroom, Brown said.

Parents of the children at the daycare declined to be interviewed.

"They are going through a lot of grief," Brown said.

He added that his own daughter has had a difficult time since witnessing the shooting and he and his wife have gotten her private counseling.